In the 1950s and 60s, long before just about everyone owned a computer, my mother did a lot of genealogical research. She had to walk to the library, look up all the information in books, and then mail requests for copies of birth, marriage, and death records. Along with one of my father’s sisters and one of his first cousins, my mother researched my father’s family, and then her own adoptive family. She gave me copies of the family trees, but I was busy raising a family, and didn’t pay too much attention to any of the information.

After both of my parents died, I looked through my mother’s papers and found letters to my parents from my father’s first cousin, telling them about information that she had found about an ancestor who was deported from Nova Scotia to France as a new bride. She lived in poverty in France for almost twenty-six years, and then came to Louisiana–a widow with five children. At the time, I didn’t know a lot about the Acadians, but I found this fascinating and wanted to know more. So my reading and research began.

In 2005 my husband and I went to Nova Scotia, visiting many historic sites and the towns where my ancestors lived. At every stop, I looked for books to bring home to my middle-school-age grandchildren. I wanted historical fiction–something they would want to pick up and read. But I found only one book for that age group, and that family went back to Nova Scotia as soon as they were allowed to do so. I bought several of those but also wanted a story about the many Acadians who settled in Louisiana. When we returned home, I checked bookstores, but still couldn’t find what I wanted.

Since I had been doing some writing, I decided I had to write the book I wanted for my grandchildren. It took several years of research and more years writing, but it’s done, and appropriate for middle school through adults.